PLATE TECTONICS TEST
MULTIPLE CHOICE. Read the following questions carefully and chose the BEST
answer and place it on the line (1 point each).
3.2A Describe the Earth’s Layers
3.2C Describe the differences between oceanic and continental crust
3.2B Explain Earth features using Plate Tectonic Theory.
3.2B Explain the movement of Tectonic Plates.
3.3C Explain the motion history of the Earth’s
plates.
1. What evidence do scientists have
that the Earth has layers?
a. Seismic waves change speed
and direction as they travel
through the Earth.
b. Seismic waves always go
straight through the Earth.
c. They sent scientists down to
make observations.
d. They don’t really know.
2. Which part of Earth is most likely
the cause of Earth’s magnetic
field?
a. Lithosphere
b. Asthenosphere
c. Mantle
d. Core
3. Using rock samples and evidence from seismic waves, what can scientists
infer about the Earth’s layers?
a. The layers have different chemical compositions.
b. The layers have different temperatures and densities.
c. The layers have different depths and thicknesses.
d. All of the Above.
4. Which part of the Earth could be compared to the inner part of the peach?
a. Crust
b. Mantle
c. Outer Core
d. Inner Core
5. Which of the following best describes how heat travels through the Earth’s
layers?
a. Heat from radiation in the core
passes through convection
currents in the mantle.
b. Heat from convection currents
in the core passes through
radiation in the mantle.
c. Heat from the core passes
through conduction to the
mantle.
d. Heat from the mantle passes to
the core and to the lithosphere.
6. Scientists look at rock
samples from the ocean floor
and the continental land mass.
What are the primary
differences between the two
parts of the crust?
a. Rock type
b. Density
c. Thickness
d. All of the Above
Ocean Crust = Basalt
Continental = Granite
Crust
7. A sample of basalt from the ocean floor has a mass of 30 grams and a
volume of 10 milliliters. What is the density of the rock sample?
a. 300 grams / milliliter
b. 0.3333 grams / milliliter
c. 3.0 grams / milliliterNone of the Above
8. Which of the following can be used as
evidence for sea-floor spreading at a
mid-ocean ridge?
a. Rocks get “older” as you move away
from the mid-ocean ridge.
b. Rocks with matching magnetic polarity
exist on either side of the ridge.
c. Both a and b
d. None of the Above
9. What
a.
b.
c.
d.
best explains the area between (5) and (6) in the diagram above?
Hot Spot
Mid-Ocean Ridge
Ocean-Ocean Subduction
Continent Ocean Subduction
10.
What best describes the plate boundary at location (12) in the diagram?
Convergent Plate Boundary
Divergent Plate Boundary
Transform Boundary
Hot Spot
a.
b.
c.
d.
11.
What best describes the volcano at location (3) in the diagram?
a. Hot Spot
b. Mid-Ocean Ridge
c. Ocean-Ocean Subduction
d. Continent Ocean Subduction
12. What is the name of the area at location (1) in the diagram?
a. Cryosphere
b. Geosphere
c. Lithosphere
d. Asthenosphere
13. The offset in the ridge between location (9) and (10) was most likely caused by:
a. Convergent Plate Boundary
b. Divergent Plate Boundary
c. Transform Boundary
d. Hot Spot
When the leading edge of a heavy plate meets the edge of a lighter plate, the heavier plate
bends downward. This place where the heavier plate melts (subducts) beneath the lighter one is called
the subduction zone. In the ocean, subduction zones can create huge, deep trenches.
Ocean trenches can be formed by subduction between continental crust and oceanic crust.
Continental crust is always lighter. The long series of Peru-Chile Trenches off the west coast of South
America is formed by the oceanic crust of the Nazca plate subducting beneath the continental crust of
the South American plate.
Ocean trenches can also be formed when two plates carrying oceanic crust meet. These are more
rare. The Mariana Trench, in the South Pacific Ocean, is formed as the massive Pacific plate subducts
beneath the Philippine plate.
In a subduction zone, some of the molten material—the former seafloor—can rise through volcanoes
located near the trench. The volcanoes often build mountain ranges or chains of volcanic islands that lie
parallel to the trench.
14. Which type of subudction would NOT result in a trench?
a. Ocean-Ocean
b. Ocean-Continent
c. Continent-Continent
d. All of the Above
15. What type of plate boundary is
A
between the Nazca Plate and the Pacific
Plate?
a. Ocean-Continent Subduction
b. Mid-Ocean Ridge
c. Ocean-Ocean Subduction
d. Transform boundary
B
16. What best describes the motion of
the North American plate?
a. Moves slightly NW at 2 cm/year
b. Moves slightly NE at 2 cm/year
c. Moves slightly NW at 2 km/year
d. Moves slightly NW at 2km/year
C
17. What is the name of the Super-continent that Wegener proposed in his
Continental Drift theory?
a. Paleozonia
b. Pangea
c. Prehistoria
d. Padmalakshmi
18. Why are the mountain ranges in Eastern NA and Western Europe or Africa used
as evidence for Continental Drift?
a. The rocks are the same age and type.
b. They may have formed from a subduction zone.
c. The coast lines do not match up.
d. All of the Above
19. How does the Glossopteris fossil support Continental Drift?
a. It grew in warm climates, but its fossils are found in places with cold
climates.
b. It grew in cold climates, but its fossils are found in places with warm
climates.
c. It could not swim long distances, but is found across oceans.
d. It could only swim in freshwater.
20. Why was Wegener unable to convince people that Continental Drift occurred?
a. He did not have any evidence.
b. He only had evidence from fossils.
c. He did not discover plate boundaries or sea-floor spreading.
d. He believed the
The outermost, rigid layer of the Earth, consisting of the Earth’s crust and part of the
upper mantle, is called the:
a. biosphere
b. lithosphere
c. atmosphere
d. asthenosphere
2. What is the texture of the asthenosphere most like?
a. Water
b. Slime
c. Play-doh
d. Valentine Candy
___ 3. With few exceptions, increasing the temperature of a material will cause its
density to ____________________________.
a. increase
b. decrease
c. stay the same
d. increase slightly, then even out
___ 4. What is the density of a material that has a mass of 27.0 g and a volume of 9.0
cm³? (Remember to use your heart)
a. 0.33 g/cm³
b. 243.0 g/cm³
c. 36.0 g/cm³
d. 3.0 g/cm³
___ 5.If you used the theory of plate tectonics to predict the most likely place for the
next earthquake, you should predict that it is most likely to occur:
a. where plates are dividing apart
b. where one has not happened in at least a million years
c. in the middle of any continent
d. where two plates slide past each other creating friction
___ 6. A deep crack that runs through the center of the ocean is called a
___________________________.
a. volcanic arc
b. lithosphere
c. rift valley
d. mid-ocean ridge
___ 7. When two continental plates collide, the edges of the continents are pushed
upward to form a ______________________.
a. rift valley
b. trench
c. volcano
d. continental mountain range
Use the diagram to help you answer questions 8 & 9.
___8. Which layer of the Earth would you find convection cells?
a. Crust
b. Mantle
c. Outer Core
d. Inner Core
___9. Which layer of the Earth creates Earth’s magnetic field?
a. Crust
b. Mantle
c. Outer Core
d. Inner Core
___ 10. What event is most likely to occur when an oceanic plate collides with a
continental plate?
a. The oceanic plate will be subducted.
b. The continental plate will be subducted
c. A rift valley will form in the continental plate.
d. A hot spot will form in the oceanic plate.
___ 11. What is the name of the supercontinent that existed 250 million years ago?
a. Gondwanaland
b. Pangea
c. Laurasia
d. North America
___ 12. What has become the accepted main cause for sea-floor spreading?
a. Density differences in the crust.
b. Convection cells within the Earth’s mantle.
c. The formation of magnetic striping along the sea floor.
d. The huge weight of sea-floor sediments piled up over millions of years.
___13. If the sea floor is spreading, why is the Earth not getting larger?
a. It is getting larger
b. Erosion/weathering
c. Old ocean crust is subducted and melted
d. Gravity prevents the Earth from growing
___ 14. What do mid-ocean ridges and hot spots beneath ocean plates have in common?
a. Both have magma that rises to the surface.
b. Both are located along the plate boundaries on the crust.
c. Both have local earthquakes that begin at great depths.
d. Neither is associated with plate motions.
Use the map below to answer questions 15-17:
___ 15. At which of the boundaries would you expect to find oceanic lithosphere being
created?
a. Between the South American and Nazca plates
b. Between the Pacific and North American plates
c. Between the North American and Eurasian plates.
___ 16. Which type of geologic feature would you expect to find along the west coast
of South America?
a. A rift valley
b. A chain of volcanoes
c. An ocean ridge
d. A transform fault
___ 17. The North American plate moves about 2.5 cm per year in the direction 282º.
Where will the plate be in 100 years? (Refer to the map above to determine direction).
a. 250 cm to the NW
b. 250 cm to the SE
c. 250 m to the NW
d. 250 m to the SE
___ 18. Which clue is used to show that the continents used to fit together in a super
continent millions of years ago?
a. GPS data
b. fossil and rocks
c. magnetic poles shifting
TRUE/FALSE
____ 19. Wegener proposed that all the continents were once part of one large
landmass called Gondwanaland.
____ 20.The ocean floor is subducted at convergent ocean-continental boundaries.
____ 21. Conduction currents cause plate movement.
____ 22. Mid-ocean rifts are also known as trenches.
____ 23. Magnetic stripes on the ocean floor indicate that the Earth’s magnetic poles
reverse themselves from time to time.
24. Draw and label a convection cell. (2 points)
**Bonus Question**
25. Explain what the arrows that are pointing in different directions represent.
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